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Lisa C.: Surprises in Serving

After heeding God’s call to volunteer for East Hill’s high school ministry, Lisa Cejka found herself gaining more from the experience than she had expected.

The high school pastor asked for volunteers, and Lisa was looking for a new place to serve and be stretched.

“I never had a desire to have kids, but teenagers are pretty cool in my opinion,” Lisa said. “So I got up the courage to call [the high school pastor] and decided to try it out.”

On her first Wednesday serving at the Youth Center, she wasn’t as confident as she had hoped. Looking around the room and not knowing anyone was a bit discouraging, but it didn’t stop her.

“Quite frankly, I was scared to death,” she said. “I didn’t know a soul there, but I felt God called me to be there so I kept going every Wednesday.”

During her first couple days of volunteering, a girl named Tiffany caught her eye. Tiffany recently had been saved, and at one service shared her testimony. As soon as Lisa saw her, she said she felt like she needed to get to know her better.

They forged a strong bond during their time together at service, a bond strong enough that Lisa felt the need to help her in a greater way. Tiffany moved in with Lisa and her husband, and the couple has helped her with her schooling and in her quest in ministry.

“She has become my daughter,” Lisa said. “She still comments on how blown away she is by all we do for her, but to be quite honest, I think we have gotten just as much, if not more out of the relationship.”

Aside from the amazing bond that has emerged while following God’s word, Lisa has also been cured of Multiple Sclerosis — a disease affecting the immune system — which she had for 13 years.

One day, God asked her to pray for healing. She did as He asked, and she said she quickly saw signs of the miraculous recovery. After that, Lisa talked to her neurologist and stopped taking her M.S. medication.

“I asked God, ‘Why me?’ He said it was my obedience — and at first, I thought he had to have the wrong person,” Lisa said. Although she felt like she was always a bit of a rebel obedience-wise, she says God showed her that she’s more obedient than she thought.

Lisa took a simple step in listening and trusting in God, and it has positively changed her life in many ways.

“The community of adults and teenagers I have become a part of is now one of the absolute best parts of my life,” Lisa said. “Sometimes I just can’t believe how God connects us to all the people we need to know, and how we all benefit from the relationships.”